Ghost Stories from Hell: Supernatural Horror with Scary Ghosts & Haunted Houses

By: Ron Ripley, Scare Street

Narrated by: Thom Bowers, Jake Urry

Length: 22 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

The dead know what scares you....

Scare Street is proud to present a collection of best-selling horror author Ron Ripley’s most blood-curdling ghost stories. Four delightfully diabolical tales have been summoned from beyond the grave, and are certain to make your skin crawl.

This collection includes:

"Boylan House" - A small New England town is horrified when it discovers an old house has developed an appetite for the blood of children.

"Blood Contract" - The residents of the town of Thorne suffer a terrible price, when they break a supernatural contract with their ancient protectors.

"Hungry Ghosts" - A troubled psychiatric patient discovers that a secluded cemetery holds the key to stopping a murderous legion of the dead.

"Sherman’s Collection" - The sudden death of a wealthy and mysterious occultist leaves a library of haunted books in the care of his surprised heir.

Haunted houses, vengeful spirits, ancient curses - everything you crave in a classic ghost story lurks within this ghastly collection. And as you devour one terrifying story after another, pay no attention to the chill in the air.

It just may be the icy presence of the dead, standing over your shoulder....

©2019 Scare Street (P)2019 Scare Street

Brilliant collection.

Boylan House:
There is a house in nearly every town that stands abandoned and just left there. Well, the Boylan house is one of them! It has stood for centuries on Meeting House Road, New Hampshire. It's a house no-one dares to enter, and if they do, they usually don't come out. Also every year, around Halloween, boys seem to go missing in or around the house, never to be seen of heard from again. Just what is going on?

Well, Mason Philips is intent on finding out what is going on. When he was a boy, on Halloween, himself and his friend decide to call to the house on a dare. Mason swears that a trap door opened in the roof and something pulled his friend into the house. Nobody believes him though and he goes through life remembering the house and wanting to see if it was just a young boys imagination. He goes back to try to find the truth, and what he unravels was shocking.

This was awesome!! So creepy and scary and perfect for this time of year!! This is the type of book that would work well read at a camp fire. They are perfect little bite sized bits of spooky.

Character wise, I really liked Mason. He has always thought about the house from his childhood and is finally in a position to find out more about it. During his research, he meets a lovely librarian, a police officer that is willing to help, and even his estranged Uncle, who has already dabbled with the house and the evil within. This ragtag group of people may just get to the bottom of what lies within the house.

Plot wise, it's a really short read but packed with chills, thrills and enough of a spooky atmosphere that it will keep you on the edge of your seat. This author is fast becoming one of my go to ones for a short scary read! He knows how to tell a great story.

Thom Bowers read the book well. He had plenty of different tones and inflections to make the story thoroughly enjoyable.

Blood Contract:
I didn't read the summary, or any reviews of this before starting it, I just saw who the author was and dived in, and I have to say that it was not at all what I was expecting!! For the first few pages I thought this would be the typical haunting, but it's not!! There was an awesome twist to it that I loved and I'm so glad I went in knowing nothing because I was giddy when I was reading it.

The plot was fast paced, intense and all round full of awesomesauce!! The basic premise is that the Blood family has owned property in the town of Thorne for generations. The family gave some of the land to the town but a contract was written up expressly forbidding the town to encroach upon the only land the family kept. All was well for generations, until the town decided to develop on the land. With the contract breached, the Blood family can not rest, but you will need to read the book to figure out why!!

As I said, I loved the plot and the twist the author put on it. I loved the creatures and learning about why the contract was put into place. I loved all the characters and found them all to be well written and developed. The creatures were well described and I want more of them!!! So yes, I pretty much loved everything about this book and would love to see more from the characters, and the creatures.

In all, a book that truly surprised me and one I highly recommend.

Jake Urry was once again amazing. he knows how to bring across the atmosphere and has so many tones and voices for the characters that the world comes alive. He is one of my favourite narrators.

Hungry Ghosts:
Connor Mann saw something when he was a child and it caused him to be put into psychiatric ward for more than a decade. It's now time for him to be released and he is anxious about going home. His mother is dead and his father is an abusive drunk. He tries to live a normal life but when he sees something from his childhood and gruesome murders are happening in the cemetery across from him, he realises that his life will never be normal. With the help from a neighbour, Connor needs to get to the bottom of what is happening before it's too late.

Pot wise, I really enjoyed learning about Chinese Ghosts and the difference between them and the normal Ghosts. The lore was fascinating and I ended up Googling them. The pacing of this was fast paced and really creepy, especially when the Ghosts would say that they were Hungry!!! It gave me chills. I was also glad to see a twist on the normal Ghost books this author has written.

I liked Connor. He saw his mother being killed by a Ghost and was put into a psychiatric ward for a lot of his life. He is now out and finding it hard to adjust. When the Ghosts try to kill him, Mister Hu is the only one he can turn to, because Hu believes him. Connor, despite his faults, is willing to do whatever he can to stop the Ghosts.

In all, this was an exciting, new and entertaining book. I loved seeing the flashbacks at the end of the book, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what is next for these characters.

Thom Bowers is able to bring the creepiness alive!! His portrayal of the Ghosts was chilling and he brought the atmosphere to life. Thoroughly enjoyed his performance.

Shermans Collection:
This is one of Ron Ripleys' earlier works and after reading some of his more recent ones, you can tell he has evolved tremendously as a writer!! Still though, this book was well written and developed and I loved it.

The plot is fast paced and doesn't let up. When Mr. Sherman dies, his one stipulation in his will is that when his house is sold, nothing from the Library can be removed. The new owner has to agree to this before they can buy the house. Charles Gottesman doesn't see a problem with this so he eagerly buys the house. But before he can move in, items from the Library are stolen and it doesn't take long for Charles to realise how important Mr Shermans request was.

I think I see where the author got inspiration for his amazing Haunted Collection Series!! This is similar though not as expanded as the Haunted Collection Series. I loved finding out about the objects and what was haunting each. Also the buyer of the sword was creepy and I would love to have seen a bit more on him. As with all this authors work, he has created a creepy and spooky set of circumstances that the characters have to deal with, and I loved every bit of it ;) I listened to this in a little over a day because I needed to see what happened next.

In all, this is a well written and quick read. It has given me a hankering for re-reading the Haunted Collection Series!

Jake Urry is one of my favourite narrators and I always enjoy his performance. He read this well and had plenty of tones and voices for the characters. His cadence and inflection was perfect too and he brought the book alive.

I was given this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. This in no way affected nor influenced my thoughts.

Narrator ruined it.

I am returning this audio book. I like Ron Ripley books and I have all of them and I own quite a few audio versions also. The narration on Blood Contract is awful. So bad that I cannot continue. He speaks so slowly hat it has become a challenge to go on. I even tried to speed up the narration and that didn't work either. I think that Hungry Ghosts was not one of Mr Ripleys better books and I am kind of glad that I won't have to listen to that one. However, Sherman's Collection is one that I might have enjoyed listening to as I did like the book but I just can't take the chance that I will have to listen to what I think is bad narration. I do like Thom Bowers narration but I just can't listen to Jake Urry. Maybe someone else can. I'm just not that person.

Jake Urry; an assault on my ears

Jake Urry's performance destroyed 2 stories. I Could not bear to listen to his voice. I hope Ron Ripley sticks with Thom Bowers from now on . Urry's narration is somewhere between a drunken Brit and a well meaning answering machine. I desperately wanted to listen but simply could not after 30 minutes. Very disappointing.

one of the narrators just ruined it.

loved the books hated the narrator. lost me because of it. guy could put anyone to sleep.

Jake Urry....

Good stories if you can struggle through the narration. Jake Urry...OMG! and when he did women narrative it was horrible! I think William Shatner could have done a better job.

should have had one narrator

these stories were pretty good, but could have been better without the second reader. the reader of the first and third stories was one of the better ones ive heard. different voices, accents, and filled the naritive with feeling. the reader of the second and fourth stories was one of the worst ive heard. same sounding voices, monotone reading. awfully hard to listen to.

Narrator takes away from collection

Love Ron Ripley's books! The issue with this collection is the narration of Jake Urry. The 2 books narrated by Thom Bowers were wonderful! Jake Urry's narration was such that I was unable to listed to the 2 books read by him. Very disappointing as I love Ron Ripley's books

Not very good

The first story was pretty good even though the ending wasn't great - the narrator in #2 was awful - started #3 but too unbelIevable - not going to listen to the rest -

An Edge of Your Seat Series

You have a great book selection here...Boylan House, Blood Contract, Hungry Ghosts, and Sherman's collection. Each is a different story with interesting and believable characters. You have all sorts of fairies, demons, monsters. The stories are well described. You find yourself on the edge of your seat. These stories are fast paced. You won't want to put your book down or stop reading. I recommend this book series.

It was okay

1st book was good. I couldn't finish the 2nd one...after 6 chapters, it still hadn't grabbed my attention. 3rd and 4th were okay. but narrator portrayal of female characters was annoying. He made them ALL sound like a cross between Marilyn Monroe and a 6yr old.

Ups & downs!

Great stories, unfortunately, two were spoilt by the monotone narration and an irritating sound effect when the reader wants to convey what the main character is thinking, totally spoiling them for me.

Good stories, not so great narrator.

The stories in general are absolutely fine. But there's a narrator who's voice is the equivalent of watching paint dry and it totally sucks any enjoyment out of the story.

Just ..... bad!

Very rarely do I give up on an audio book, I usually able to listen to just about anything but I got half way and just about lost the will to live.
Stories are just weak .

Spooky!

Four great stories that I would love to see be turned into longer novels. The last story did have a bit of an abrupt ending I felt, but overall it was very good. My only complaint, and it’s a minor one, is Jake Urry as a performer for this. This man, to quote a friend, has a voice that you can hear the cravat in. You hear that amazing voice and expect a fire, a stuffed bear in the corner, and a brandy. I want to hear him read Fall of the House of Usher. Hearing him talk about construction workers playing Candy Crush on their cell phones is more than a little jarring. And his women’s voices leave something to be desired. As I said, this is minor overall. Thom Bowers reads two of the stories and is great as always.

Hill house v good.

The story about the blood family was narrated way too low. Sorry narrater. It doesn’t add to the story. Mediocre at best.

4 Gripping horror stories

I loved this set of 4 books, I've not heard of Ron Ripley before but I loved his stories.

Of all my audio books this is my favourite at the moment, and really great value to have a set of 4 stories, two performed by Jake Urry and two narrated by Thom Bowers.

The two stories narrated by Jake Urry were probably the best two story performances I've heard in audio books, his change of voices and pace and style is amazing.

I was wary of getting this set at first because there are some scathing reviews of the two books narrated by Thom Bowers - but I found these two stories so good that I couldn't stop listening and I was just as engrossed as with the other two.

I've been with Audible for years and have a huge collection of (mainly horror) books so I'm really glad to have found Ron Ripley. I'll be adding his whole collection to my library.

These four stories are gripping and unique - I love the way the background is added gradually and the bonus chapters at the end of the stories is a unique way to give the listener more of the story when they think they've heard it all - I highly recommend this collection for horror fans.

Chilling and intriguing.

These books a a really good mixture of fear, comedy and eeriness makes for a good overall read in my opinion.

Endless !!

All of the stories could have been about the same town/ place/people! Scary ----I don't think so! Just a lot of words trying to justify 4 books. I found it monotonous and had to listen to it over two weeks as it just did not hold my interest!
Thought i was making a saving getting the 4 as one title, but should have known better!

audio books

I love Ron ripleys books all excellent and even better than Stephen King read them

Good storys

Good storys love Ron Ripley.
Thom Bowers great narrator unfortunately Jake Urry not so much so books by Jake not very good if narrated by Thom then I would have like them better